Jim, I think your description of the culture on the ground among US troops is dead on. I would agree that British troops have more experience in peacekeeping than most US troops, but you have to remember that some US troops have done peacekeeping duties too, including in Bosnia and Kosovo, where we still have troops stationed. Reports of torture and abuse on this magnitude never surfaced there.

There have also been rumblings out of the Beltway this week that "the rules changed" regarding the US' use of torture after 9/11. Which of course means that the US military changed it's position on what was and wasn't acceptable ways of obtaining information from detainees.

The veneer of respectability and honor is gone for the US in the short term, and I believe that is the most dangerous thing for Iraqis and the rest the world. The one check that the military has to prevent the troops from descending into wholesale slaughter, is the veneer of decency and honor.

Killing is a behavior that gives an immediate thrill, so they say. Jim you quote from someone above who speaks excitedly about it. In Rwanda, men would get drunk and then go out and just start killing people. Day after day after day. No military force is ever very far from order and discipline breaking down, and the soldiers doing just that--seeking thrill killing. Our own troops did it in Vietnam, as we know.

And Rumsfeld said yesterday, the worst is yet to come.